A New Certified Diver... ^_^

That's me.... Muahahaha....

Finally... a SSI certified open water diver....Yesterday.... Woohoo... can dive to 18 meters.... ^_^

I went for my last day of training for open water diving... yesterday... haha...

Getting ready for my 3rd dive... or 1st dive of the 2nd day... this time got to take pictures myself.. because the suppose-to-be my buddy is not here.... LOL...


Suiting up for my dive with my instructor... this picture was taken by a kind French guy, who is doing a leisure dive with the same company...



This is my full suit... with the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device).. goggles... respirators... everything...

Everything on... and you can start diving....This is my life-support system under the water... the tubes connecting to the oxygen tank...


My goggles... noticed that the nose area is covered as well... this is important... you need your nose for clearing your mask if water enters... also to trap air inside the goggles... so that you can see... and also to maintain the pressure of your nose.. so no water will go into your nose if you turn upside down... of which it can add to your stress level if the water enters your nose.. then you will star to breath more heavily... then more oxygen will be used up... so less time for diving...
This are my respirators... there are 2... one as a back-up... for yourself.. or your buddy.... used for you to breath in the oxygen under-water...

This is part of the BCD... can use to inflate or release the air from your BCD... allows you to float and sink accordingly...
And this is my SPG (Submersible Pressure Gauge).. used to check your oxygen level.. and also the depth you've gone too... some even have a compass in it for navigation purposes...

And as you can see.. my suit is 2.5mm thick... suitable for the warm waters of Sabah.... haha.... but not under the sun... you will sauna man...

This time... during the 3rd dive... I went all the way till 18meters... being tested on all the drills along the way.... i just had abit of problem with the emergency self ascend procedure.. always forgot to pretend to throw away my weight belt... LOL...

But still... haha... I passed~~~

During the 3rd dive... i saw alot of sea urchins... but these are not the usual round ones... this sea urchins area actually abit squarish... and they can move around with their spikes... it was totall awesome man...

The only thing i find it a real pity is that I don't have an underwater casing for my camera to take down all these beautiful and amazing sights... real pity... i can only put them in words... and i am going to need a thousand of them.... because a picture paints a thousand words... LOL..

And anyway... I passed.. haha... my instructor gave me a hand-shake underwater to signal that... LOL... and I still didn't get what he meant... haha... until i checked with him when we surfaced...

Haha... it's always better to check...

And so... took a break on the island for lunch...

Managed to take this picture of 2 monitor lizards fighting... by the way... the monitor lizards are allowed to roam freely on the island... but they mainly stick to a small area... covered by nothing.. and a small trail of water... they can still get across to us easily... And there are dozens of them around....

Then as per normal humans... some beach-goers there who had some left-over BBQ-ed chicken wings would throw the food to them... resulting in the fights... LOL...
Some kid even threw the chicken wing which hit the lizard's head.... they better be trained to run fast when these things gets furious and chase after them....

Following that, we went for our 4th dive... this time.. it is purely a leisure dive... no drills... haha.... and I joined in with the other instructor Ross... as well as 2 other leisure divers... the kind French guy who help me take my photo, as well as another guy from England.....

And I can only say... this was truly a amazing dive... there are so much more corals and fishes and all the whatever things... which i would again need a thousand words to describe them...

Truly... amazing.... awesome.. and very enjoyable.. because I'm not tested anymore on the drills... which can be quite irritating... and makes the whole dive not as enjoyable...

And surprisingly.. for this 4th dive... I was suddenly able to clear very easily... my left ear was very cooperative... haha... and i was suddenly diving quite smoothly... no more floating around or what... I somehow got the idea of using my breathing to control my buoyancy.... and was so smooth... I was going so smoothly... it made the other England leisure diver look like a noob.. because he was struggling here and there...using his hands and all.... my instructor even have to go over to assist him with his weight belts and whatever stuff...

Bet his training was too easy.... haha....

But alas... the beautiful sights was soon stopped when we have to surface... and me and my instructor went back to the island to chill.. while the rest went for their 3rd dive of the day.... My course only covers 2 dives a day...

And after a long wait.... with a heavy rain coming in... the guys are finally done.. and we raced back....

Since the boat was going quite fast... the rain drops suddenly felt like bullets against me... it was very painful... and irritating.. ans cold... because I was soaked wet and I've changed to my dry clothes... should have just wore the exposure suit.. it would have kept me warm...

And so... the 15minutes ride seem like eternity... as i braved the rain bullets and the howling wind...

After we reached... we still have to walk all the way back to the shop... because the rover we took initially to the sea-port was to be loaded fully with the diving equipments and the many tanks...
And so... in the heavy rain again... we walked back...

I'm ok... but the poor pregnant wife and mother of the French guy... they were soaked... they didn't dive... but just accompany the guy to the island with us... luckily... the England guy offered them his rain-coat... and i gave them a big black thrash bag to wear over... LOL....

Haha.. better than nothing mah... I walked back just like that leh...

And yep... that concludes the my diving trip.... haha....

Awesome.... I would love to go diving again.. but this time I'll make sure i get a water-resistant cover first... haha...

After the trip... my parents brought me to visit this giant mall of Sabah... something like Vivo... very big.. and new... called 1Borneo... quite nice... haha... maybe next time can bring the MK gang there....

That's that.... haha....

Diving... awesome...

There's no charge for awesome-ness.... or attractiveness... LOL...